Mediaset’s Net TV has 200,000 subs, News Channel launches

March 23, 2011

Italian commercial broadcaster Mediaset will launch an all-news channel this autumn, according to chairman, Fedele Confalonieri. He said that the channel would be available on all distribution platforms, DTT (Tivu), DTH (Sky Italia and TivuSat) and IPTV (Telecom Italia, Fastweb).

Mediaset vice-president Piersilvio Berlusconi, said the group’s pay-TV unit, Mediaset Premium, plans to invest E30-40 million for the creation of new channels on DTT. Berlusconi does not expect an immediate return from its on-demand service Premium Net TV, available to all customers who have a broadband connection. He revealed that the service, launched at the end of February, currently has 200,000 subscribers.

Mediaset pay-TV operations have reached 4.2 million active users in March, including 1.9 million subscribers, said the company. Mediaset pay-TV users were 3.9 million at the end of 2010, it said. Pay-TV activities reached an ARPU of €126 at the end of 2010, up from €94 at the end of 2009, Mediaset said.